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Hilliard hopes to enter an agreement with private developers — including former pro football and baseball star Bo Jackson — to build a multisport indoor training complex in the city’s largest public park.

Bo Jackson’s Elite Sports, of Clearwater, Fla., would build the $5.4 million complex on 4 acres of the 133-acre Roger A. Reynolds Municipal Park, according to plans discussed at an economic-development committee meeting last night.Already, city leaders seemed impressed.

“We don’t have the resources to ... open and manage a facility like this,” said Hilliard Mayor Donald J. Schonhardt. Elite athletic-training facilities “are sorely needed, not just in Hilliard but in central Ohio in general.”

“There’s not going to be anything like this outside of Ohio State,” said parks director Steve Mazer. “We’re going to get a lot of exposure.”The city must first iron out lease and zoning details, and the possibility of a separate taxing district.

Hilliard would lease its land to the owners for 30 years, with 10-year extensions possible, at an annual cost of 10 percent of the total project cost, an early agreement says.

“Municipalities are looking for ways to drive economic impact and to create social benefits that also reduce their need to build new facilities,” said Dev Pathik, a partner in the development group.

The domed facility with attached meeting rooms and offices would be open 7 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. daily. The city would have access to a portion of the facility for 40 hours per week, during off-peak hours, at no cost, Pathik said.

Hilliard was chosen in part because of a resident’s frustration with the lack of options for his children.

In researching athletic-training facilities for his 10- and 14-year-olds, Heath Wagner was directed to the Bo Jackson group and a training facility in Chicago. He met with Jackson, created a plan for Hilliard and was hired as general manager of the facility.

“The reality in large communities is that kids become specialists and very good at what they do,” said Wagner, an employee of Chase Bank. “The right place and right time, with the ability to form a relationship,” brought the project together.

The Hilliard City Council will hear details on Sept. 10. If approved, the site could open next fall.David Meeks, Hilliard’s economic-development director, said, “It gives us another amenity that will draw unique development to Hilliard.”Plans also must be presented to the Darby Accord Advisory Group, which has nonbinding oversight over development that could affect the Big Darby Creek watershed. The project would be adjacent to the Clover Groff ditch, which feeds into Darby Creek.SportsOhio operates numerous sports facilities on about 100 acres in Dublin. But it focuses on renting its site for team leagues.

“I don’t think it’s going to affect us at all,” said its president, Allen Shepherd. “It’s going after an entirely different market.

“Everybody wants their kids to go to the Olympics or NBA, and that costs a lot of money to get them there. We need to teach them to just have a good time.”